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Poverty Problem In India – Reasons Why India Is Still a Poor Country

Meaning of Poverty

Poverty refers to that social condition in which a part of the society is unable to fulfill its basic requirements. When a big portion of the population is deprived of the minimum living standard and survives only on the survival level, then it is said that poverty is widely spread in the population.

The Problem of Poverty in India

India is recognized as a poor country even after around 70 years of independence. Especially in the Rural Sector of India, the condition is worse. Though during the planning periods the national income of-India and the per ca-pita income has increased, social welfare has increased, literacy level has risen and people have been able to fulfill more and more of their requirements but poverty (and specially Rural Poverty) is still present in its alarming form.

CAUSES OF POVERTY IN INDIA

Lower Growth Rate

The growth rate of the Indian economy is very low. During the 55 years of the planning period the average growth rate has been 3.5% which has deepened the roots of poverty.

Unemployment

Unemployment In India

The increasing rate of unemployment in the country has spread more problem. Due to increasing unemployment, poverty has taken a more serious form. For example, the number of unemployed in the country at the beginning of the first plan was 35 million, which is about 26 crores in 2010.

Political Causes

The long bondage of the country has slowed the pace of the economy. The foreign invaders took no interest in the development of basic industries. The Zami-dari system started in the country which exploited the farmers completely. Their agricultural policies gave birth to landless farmers and their exploitation. Poverty also increased their exploitation.

Traditional Production Techniques

In the fields of agriculture and manufacture, the production techniques are traditional which have lowered the production level due to which poverty has increased.

Inflation

In India inflation has taken an alarming shape. Due to this, people are unable to fulfill the basic requirements of their families. Today 50% of the population of our country is covered under the poor class.

Dependency on Agriculture

Most of the population in India depends on agriculture for their living. Each family has a small amount of land. Everyone live together and live with difficulty on a small land and due to the dependency only on agriculture, the person remains poor.

Alcoholism

In India, poverty has also increased due to alcoholism. Each day, in India million of people are destroying their money and health due to the habits of alcoholism. Thus, alcoholism is one of the reasons of the increasing this problem in India.

Belief in Fate

Most of the population in India give importance to conservative attitude and analyse each aspect on the basis of fate. People become inactive on the thought that it is their fate that is making things happen and live lifelong in the lap of poverty.

Adverse Environment and Climate

On the peaks of Himalayas there is always a snowfall, Rajasthan is also under the same climate in another form. Due to the desert, farming etc. is not possible there and poverty has increased. Thus, the adversity of the environment and the climate has a deep impact on growth of the nation.

Lack of Natural Resources

The places where the land is infertile, there is absence of resources for the production. Coal or iron, minerals etc. are also not available there, people of that place are poor. Due to geographical reasons there are several places in India whose 100% of the population is poor. Like, the land of the hilly areas is not at all fit for agriculture. Moreover, due to lack of resources for agriculture also people are poor.

Harm by Insects

The termites attack, the south Indian drops even today and destroy the crops. Moreover, many kinds of insects and rats destroy the wheat, maize, paddy etc., crops. The grains stored by the traders are also destroyed by these insects and rats. On an estimate, about 15 to, 20% of the crops are destroyed by them. Thus, this is also one of the reasons of Indian poverty.

Social Evils

There are several social evils WI India, like dowry, child marriage, Parda system, etc. which have several bad effects and help in raising poverty.

Lack of Industries

Paper bag maker and seller, Varanasi India

The industry could not develop properly in India. Due to the lack of industries, poverty can be seen on each side in India.

Caste System

Due to caste system people have to carry on their traditional work, even if, they are unprofitable. That is why, the rich people of olden times did not accept small or low grade jobs and instead preferred to die without food, as a result poverty increased in our country.

Traditions

Everything is related with religion in India. For the sake of their own customs and traditions, the illiterate people spend thousands of rupees, and take loans for their traditions and stay strangulated in poverty.

Unbalanced Growth of Industries

The opportunity of industrial development came after independence but due to the policies of the British rule the cottage industries could not get protection. This gave rise to unemployment and poverty.

Natural Calamities

Indian agriculture is dependent on rains, even today. Sometimes, due to less rainfall drought occurs and sometimes due to heavy rainfall crones of rupees of crop is destroyed. These natural calamities have also been responsible for poverty in India.

Very informative article …Society is the web of social relationship and every part of a society is connected with another part of the same society. I hardly believe that if the causes of these problems are eliminated, as you mentioned, then the problems are automatically solved in our Indian society.